Two interesting matches await on Friday Night Football, as the NRL season kicks into full gear in round 2. We kick things off with the hot Manly Sea Eagles heading across the ditch to take on the Warriors, who looked horrible last week. After the appetizer we go to the main course, where the Penrith Panthers host the Sydney Roosters. In a clash that would have been considered heavyweight for the past five years, the Roosters will just be hoping not to be lapped for the second straight week.
Draftstars have several contests on offer for Friday night, including single-match contests, and combined matchups. These include:
NRL $8,000 – Panthers v Roosters
NRL $6,000 – Warriors v Sea Eagles
NRL $3,000 – Friday Night doubleheader
There are plenty of other contests that will tickle your fancy, so get involved and make the greatest game of all even more exciting.
Betting Markets
Warriors ($3.10) vs Sea Eagles ($1.38)
Line: Sea Eagles (-8.5)
Points: 48.5
Panthers ($1.06) vs Roosters ($9.00)
Line: Panthers (-22.5)
Points: 50.5
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Where to Attack?
VALUE PLAYS
Casey McLean ($8,000) is bottom dollar, and a bottom dollar winger on a team favoured by 22.5 points is an automatic selection for mine. McLean unfortunately went down early in round 1 with concussion but given the long layoff since Vegas he is fit to play in round 2. He will be attacking the wing of Dom Young, who appears lost at sea defensively right now. With Daine Laurie scoring twice on the left-wing last week, expect McLean to have plenty of chances this week to put on points.
Salesi Foketi ($9,100) did plenty of work in the middle last week for the Roosters, managing to make 34 tackles and 52 running metres in 52 minutes. Expect at least the same minutes, if not more this week, given the loss of Lindsay Collins. Siua Wong has been named to start on the edge and could be another excellent value choice for the Roosters, especially if he can churn out the full 80 minutes. Foketi is slightly cheaper and plays in the middle which should have his base a bit higher than Wong’s.
MID PRICE PLAYS
Lindsay Smith (14,630) with the loss of James Fisher-Harris, there were question marks as to who would take over as the lead man in the Panthers pack. And whilst Moses Leota has taken over as the leader, Smith has shown that he is the worker in the middle. Last week, Smith managed to churn out 36 tackles, and ran for 117 metres in 45 minutes. I don’t see Smith’s minutes reducing any time soon, and if anything, he has shown in the past he can play bigger minutes. Smith will be your meat and potatoes man in this slate and push out a solid 50+ points for you.
Jason Saab ($10,200) the towering Manly winger isn’t a guy who is going to get base stats for you, but he showed last week against the hapless Cowboys that he can break the line as well as anyone. Running of Tom Trbojevic doesn’t hurt either, and coming up against a Warriors team who looked all at sea against the Raiders in round 1, I fully expect the Sea Eagles to dominate this game too. Rocks or diamonds type player, but it’s not a huge outlay for the upside that he possesses.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Daly Cherry-Evans ($21,010) There’s some great selections in the premium race here, and I can’t talk anyone out of the likes of DCE, Cleary, Olakau’atu, Yeo, Trbojevic and Tedesco. Selecting between Cherry-Evans and Cleary is a tough one, as Cleary has the higher upside, but also costs nearly $4,000 more. I’ll go with DCE, as I believe he has great upside against the Warriors here, and you can use that extra $4k for another proven gun. The Manly halfback managed a brilliant 79 points last week, and this was despite only kicking for 234 metres. Expect more kicking metres, and a better base for DCE this week against the Warriors.
Haumole Olakau’atu ($19,240) was brilliant last week, and I don’t see how the Warriors are going to stop him this week. The Warriors allowed Keaon Koloamatangi to dominate them on the edge, and I can see the Manly edge having an even bigger night against the Wahs defence. Last week, Haumole managed 156 metres, a try, a line break, a line break assist, and 8 tackle breaks. The big man is in for another big game this week in my opinion and is a nice stack along with DCE and Jason Saab from the Sea Eagles, if you believe they should dominate this weekend.
Suggested Draftstars Lineup
